Welcome to Part Two of our detailed Eastern Mediterranean itinerary! If you haven’t yet read Part One, go back and discover how we spent the first few days of our trip!
In this blog post, we’ll share our day-by-day itinerary, complete with our favorite activities, meals, excursions, and tips. Picking up where we left of … let’s dive into four more stops in Italy!
DAY 4 – Travel to Rome, Italy
On the move again! The morning of our 4th day was spent traveling from Sorrento to Rome, where we spent 1 day. This travel experience consisted of taking a cab from our AirBNB to Napoli Centrale, then a train to Roma Termini, and one more cab to reach our hotel once in Rome. Unlike our previous experience with train travel, this day went much more smoothly, and we reached our hotel, The Palm Suite Rome, around 1:30 PM. Our room was to be ready at 2:00 PM, so the hotel held our luggage while we took a quick stroll to the Colosseum down the street, as well as to the sister hotel, where we toured their small fitness center and bar area, which we had access to if wanted. When our room was ready, we checked into an absolutely gorgeous suite, complete with a welcome bottle of champagne! The Palm Suite is a part of SLH properties, which, at the time of our booking, was partnered with Hyatt (unfortunately, they have since separated). Because of this, we were able to use Chase credit card points to book this hotel via Hyatt.
Get a closer look at our hotel room at the Palm Suite here!
Once we were settled, we began our exploration of the city! We had visited Rome once before, but Austin’s sister and brother-in-law had not yet visited, so we made sure to hit all of the popular spots. Of course, we had to visit the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Altar of the Fatherland, Piazza Navona, the Vatican, and much, much more! Halfway through our exploration, we decided to grab a snack, sharing nachos, tacos, and a sandwich from Bulldog Rome, a restaurant/bar we had visited last year. (Pro Tip: sign a dollar bill & hang it from the ceiling of the bar!) After more exploration, we made our way over to the Trastevere neighborhood, sitting down for an absolutely delicious meal at Tonnarello. We ended our evening with a nice long walk back to our hotel.
DAY 5 – Travel to Civitavecchia, Italy
On our 5th day of the trip, it was already time to leave Rome and head to our cruise ship! Before we began our travel to the port, we had a fantastic complimentary continental breakfast delivered to our room and once again walked to the Colosseum down the block to give it one last view and take some photos.
Something to note about a Mediterranean cruise that embarks from or visits Rome is that the cruise ship doesn’t actually dock in Rome. Rome is inland, so the ship docks in the closest port city, named Civitavecchia, which is about an hour away from Rome. There are many ways to travel this route, including a cab, a bus, or a train, and this time around, we decided to take the budget-friendly option – the train. From the train station, we then took a quick cab to the actual port, where we embarked the NCL Viva, part of the Prima Class by Norwegian Cruise Line, for a 10-day, 10-port Mediterranean cruise.
The embarkation process was fairly quick and easy, with us boarding the ship by 1:30 PM. We chose to carry on our backpacks and leave our luggage with a porter, so we first took a quick stroll around a few decks and stopped by the buffet for a light snack before reaching our cabins. If you pre-book a speciality dining package (which we HIGHLY recommend), it’s extremely important to make your reservations once boarding the ship to give yourself optimal options for timing, so we made sure to do that as well!
For this sailing, we decided to do something we don’t normally do and opt for an interior cabin, connecting with Austin’s sister and brother-in-law. Due to the port-heavy nature of this sailing, along with the hefty price tag, booking the lead-in category cabin was the best decision for us, and we were pleasantly surprised! Not only did NCL tack on additional square footage and storage to the interior cabins onboard the Viva, but they also revamped the bathrooms, including the addition of a full-size shower. (If you’ve cruised in an interior or balcony cabin before, you know how tiny showers can be!!) Check out a visual of our cabin here!
We used the first portion of our day aboard the Viva to unpack our luggage into the storage areas in the cabin, and settle in for the next 10 days! This may be the best part of a Mediterranean sailing – the ability to see so many different places while having a “home base” on the ship is truly unmatched. We then gave ourselves a complete ship tour, walking all decks and discovering the many amenities onboard. We returned to our cabins, got ready for the evening, and ate a fantastic dinner at one of the 7 specialty restaurants onboard, called Food Republic. If you head to Food Republic on the Viva or any other NCL ship, we recommend all of the sushi rolls as well as the shrimp pad thai! We ended our evening with a stroll around the ship, noticing many different options for entertainment, then retired to bed to get ready for our first port stop.
DAY 6 – Port stop in Florence, Italy
Our first port day was nothing short of amazing! Just as in Rome, the city of Florence is inland, so the ship docked in the town of Livorno. From the port, we took a cab to the train station, Livorno Centrale, then a train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the main station of Florence, which lasted around an hour and 20 minutes. Our port stop was from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with an all-aboard time of 5:30 PM, so we only had about 6 hours to truly explore the city, which was not nearly enough time! From the moment we arrived, we fell in love with the busy streets of Florence, stopping to see the many architectural beauties such as the Duomo, Baptistery of San Giovanni, and Ponte Vecchio.
We had pre-researched the city a bit, and during that research, came across a sandwich shop by the name of All’Antico Vinaio. Though it was early (10:30 AM), we decided to go grab a snack there before the line began to stack up! The sandwiches were UNBELIEVABLE, and we would highly recommend visiting this shop, but what we would not recommend is ordering a beef carpaccio sandwich for breakfast (*cough cough* Austin). After our snack, we kept walking throughout the beautiful city, with our sights set on reaching Piazzale Michelangelo, a plaza with the absolute BEST view of the city! After walking quite an uphill distance to reach it, we were absolutely stunned by the beautiful view, even though this day was a bit rainy as well. After taking in the view (and our necessary photos), we stopped to grab a cappuccino at a coffee shop at the base of Piazzale Michelangelo.
We then made our descent back into the city in search of one of the famous wine windows. These wine windows are very cool in our opinion, as they serve you a handful of different wines and spritzes through a medieval window, meant to be enjoyed outside on the city streets. However, as mentioned, our day in Florence was a tad rainy, and the skies began to open up, so we shuttled into the restaurant attached to the wine window, Babae, to spend some time. It is here that we discovered the secret – if ordering a drink from the wine window, there is an upcharge of 2-3 euros per drink. For instance, we ordered an Aperol spritz from the wine window for 10 euros, when inside the restaurant, it was only 7 euros!
After the rain had cleared up, it was time to begin making our way back to the port, and we took the same modes of transportation as we had to reach the city in the morning. Once back on the ship, we relaxed in the Observation Lounge before getting ready for dinner. This evening we decided to visit another speciality restaurant, Le Bistro, which serves French cuisine. We had a very high quality 4-course meal, walked a lap around the ship, and went to bed.
Listen to our full review of Livorno / Florence HERE!
DAY 7 – Port stop in Naples, Italy
Our second port day to Naples was a relief, as the port of Naples is walking distance to the city! This port day lasted from 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM, with an all-aboard time of 8:30 PM. We went into this day with a few ideas, but truly just wanted to experience what all the city had to offer! Just like the day before, we walked the busy city streets, and we ultimately decided to go on our own pizza tour. Of course, Naples is known for their pizza (Napoli style), so there is no shortage of restaurants! After some quick research and review-reading, we visited two different pizzerias, including Antica Capri and Pizzeria Agusteo. At both of these restaurants, we were able to try delicious Napoli style pizza, splitting different flavors between the four of us.
Though we had fully decided to make our entire day a pizza tour, we were STUFFED after restaurant number 2, so we had to end our tour early! We then walked off our pizza by exploring more of the city, stopping in the Galleria Umberto to take in some views, and ended our day by grabbing a cannoli from one of the many street-side bakeries. All in all, if we were to visit Naples again, we would probably opt to visit Pompeii instead, as we felt that Naples was a very busy city, complete with lots of shopping and restaurants, but not many views!
We then made our way back to the ship, where we spent some time enjoying the aft bar area before grabbing a casual bite in the Indulge Food Hall, a new concept aboard the NCL Viva. At Indulge, you are able to seat yourself, and begin ordering from a tablet whenever ready. This food hall has many different options for food choices, ranging from Asian noodle dishes to Indian cuisine to Mediterranean, and much more! We thoroughly enjoyed this eatery, as we experienced great service each time we dined, as well as pretty good food quality for it being a complimentary restaurant. As typical for us, we took a lap around the ship after our dinner and returned to our cabin.
Listen to our full review of Naples HERE!
DAY 8 – Port stop in Catania, Sicily, Italy
Our third port day stopped in unique Catania, Sicily from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM! This time, we took a quick cab from the port to the city center, where we spent our day exploring. It was yet another rainy day, but we absolutely made the most out of our adventure in this charming city! We first visited some of the beautiful monuments in Catania, including the Piazza del Duomo and the Basicila Cathedrale Sant’Agata, stopping for a cup of fresh orange / pomegranate juice from a street vendor while exploring. We then stumbled upon one of the many great wine bars, where we split a bottle of rose and nibbled on a charcuterie board.
After our snack, we made our way over to the iconic fish market and umbrella street, which is a spot full of energy and different restaurants, along with the market. We decided to first share a cone of mixed seafood from Scirocco Fish Lab, and were pleasantly surprised when we heard the music of a street performer coming from the corner of the outdoor restaurant. On a rainy weekday in the middle of a fish market in Catania, this man brought all the vibes, playing soulful and passionate songs like The Shallows, and when we requested the band Creed, this sweet man tried his best to perform the song Higher – a core memory was truly made!!
On our way out of the fish market, we also split a small fried pizza from Friggitoria Popolare, as this had been suggested by many locals throughout our first few days. Fried dough + marinara sauce + cheese … of course it was amazing! While making our way back through the streets of Catania, we passed again through the Piazza del Duomo, this time stopping for gelato at Don Peppinu, which serves quite literally the best gelato any of us have ever had! They even had many different dairy-free options, which made Rachel happy! Before leaving the area, a type of celebration caught our attention, so we veered over to inspect. We believe some sort of race was being hosted in the city the following day, and during our port visit, local youth soccer clubs were actually playing 3-on-3 games in a blow-up arena in the middle of the plaza, which we stopped to watch for a bit.
The soccer matches concluded our day in Catania, as we then transitioned back to the ship, where we decided to enjoy the aft bar for a bit. We ended our evening by grabbing a quick and casual dinner at The Local, the bar & grill concept onboard, enjoying wings, pretzel bites, and sliders, before heading off to bed to get a good night’s sleep before our next port day.
Listen to our full review of Catania HERE!
We had the most amazing time exploring these beautiful Italian towns & cities! With so much to do in each, we would definitely love to return in order to continue to explore the areas, including a visit to Pompeii, the wine region of Tuscany, and the various neighborhoods scattered throughout Rome.
At this point, we’ve reached the halfway mark of our trip! If you’re interested in continuing to read about our 17-day Eastern Mediterranean itinerary, you can find our next blog HERE, including port stops in Malta, Greece, and Croatia!
